Our Vision

By launching the UI Center on Depression and Resilience, we aim to make transformational advances in mood disorder treatment and break new ground in research.We aim to provide world-class research and clinical care in all of the areas of Depression and Mood Disorders across all treatment modalities. We focus on helping to build resilience, which can promote well-being; the goal of resilience is to thrive.

Our Team

Dr. Anand Kumar, M.D., Lizzie Gilman Professor and Head of the DepartmentDr. K. Luan Phan, M.D., Director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Clinical and Research Programs and Associate Head for Clinical and Translational ResearchDr. Scott Langenecker, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Director of Cognitive Neuroscience

The UI Center on Depression and Resilience is a multidisciplinary initiative that brings together clinicians, educators and researchers committed to personalized patient care and innovative research. We aim to improve the quality of life of patients and their families by bringing cutting-edge, evidence-based approaches to understand, detect, monitor, and treat mood disorders. We are one of twenty selected “Centers of Excellence” of the National Network of Depression Centers and we’re the first Depression Center in Chicago.

Our multidisciplinary team is based in the Department of Psychiatry in the UIC College of Medicine and includes members from related Health Colleges including: the Colleges of Pharmacy, Nursing and Engineering, the School of Public Health, the Department of Psychology, and the Jane Adams School of Social Work.

Annually we provide 49,000+ patient visits for young children and adolescents through adults and elderly patients. Our areas of particular expertise include the following: Child and Adolescent Depression, Late Life Depression, Women’s Mental Health, Suicide, Diabetes and Depression, Neuroimaging, Anatomy and Functional Markers of Mood Disorders, Prevention of Mental Health Issues for At-Risk Urban Children, and Combat-Related Depression due to Traumatic Brain Disorders and Post-Traumatic Brain Disorders.

We are a multidisciplinary team committed to a cutting-edge approach to understanding and treating Depression for individuals of all ages. Our renowned researchers seek to understand the neural pathways, genetics and other contributors to the illness of Depression. Our compassionate clinicians draw from current research to provide evidence based treatment to those affected by Depression. Both clinicians and researchers listen to our consumers and recognize their important role in continuing to further the scientific inquiry into Depression. It is this collaborative and thorough approach to the fight against Depression that lead us to be selected a “Center of Excellence” by the National Network of Depression Centers.

Scope of the Problem

Major depressive disorder affects approximately 14.8 million American adults in any given year and is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for individuals aged 15-44 years. The World Health Organization estimates that, by 2020, depression will be the second leading cause of disability worldwide. As many as 15% of people with depression die by suicide.

Challenges

Depression is severely undertreated, due, in part, to unavailability of services and to stigma that prevents stricken individuals from seeking treatment. Basic mechanisms responsible for mood disorders remain to be clarified and funding to elucidate those mechanisms, both from government and the private sector has been severely curtailed. These missed opportunities and gaps hinder progress toward finding more effective interventions and treatment that have less debilitating side effects. Discovery and clinical application has slowed from a potential timeline of years to as long as decades.

Ramifications

Depression is a major cause of disability worldwide and can result in:

damaged relationships;

poor job productivity or loss of job;

poor school performance for children and adolescents;

legal or financial consequences from impulsive or poor decisions;

medical side effects from prolonged abuse of drugs, alcohol or prescriptions;